New Life in the Same World
by Dryfreeze
Summary: After sacrificing herself for her family, Valine is chosen by the MiM. What kind of life will she have from now on? M for language and sexual scenarios, also to be included in later chapters. I do not own ROTG characters, plot, or movie, except for my OC.
1. Chapter 1

1- Spirits, With Several Meanings of the Word.

"Pietro!" a female voice called out over the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, "Pietro! Angelo! Come inside! Dinner is ready!"

There was a peal of high pitched laughter a few fifty feet away from the plain, amateurly placed together stone house with a straw thatch roof. Modest planes of dusty glass filled the windows, and the door was comprised of a heavy dark wood with brass finishings. A woman in a very Puritan brown and white dress from the early 1820's stepped around the corner of the house, hands on her hips. She spotted the source of the laughter quickly; a tall man with dark hair and olive skin wearing a loose white cotton shirt over tan pants with woven sandals on his feet was swinging a young boy of about two years, in the same miniature outfit with a head of dark curls, up and over the man's head. The boy was screaming with laughter as he rushed through the air.

The woman smiled at the scene, and tucked a loose strand of long brown hair behind her ear, which had come undone from the braids through her hair. She was quite pretty, and her eyes had certain strength and mesmerizing quality that brought out the beauty in her face, and the cool evening breeze also brought a becoming rosiness to her cheeks. Stuffing her hands into her front apron's pockets she called again, "Angelo and Pietro! Come inside this minute, unless you want a cold meal!"

At that, the man, plopped the boy down on his feet in order to turn and wave to show that he had heard. He said something to the child and, the boy held up his hand for his father to take. Hand in hand, they carefully picked their way back to the cottage, where, at the door, the man swung the boy up into his arms, gave his wife a kiss and stepped into the home.

The floor was made of dirt, and sprinkled straw which absorbed any liquid in the ground. All the furniture was handmade of washed up driftwood, the table, the bed in the bedroom in the corner of the home, the smaller bed in the room in the opposite corner of the house, the chairs, the bowls and cups and utensils. There was a stove in the middle of the large room, and a clay sink with a water pump as the faucet was in the corner by the door. Driftwood cupboards and drawers were also interspersed through the room, and in the bedrooms.

The smell of cooked vegetables and field rabbit was drifting through the air, and the man commented, "Wow, it smells fantastic, Valine. Tell Mama dinner smells good, Pietro!" the man turned enthusiastically to the boy.

The boy gave his mother a toothy grin, "Dinna smell good, Mama!"

Valine laughed, and lifted him into a chair, "Sit down, Angelo," she gestured to her husband, and began to serve veggies and rabbit to both of them. As her husband lowered himself into a chair, he suddenly began coughing, at first lightly, but it steadily built into a hacking cough.

Valine cast him a worried look as she quickly swept to the sink to pump out a cup of water. Carrying it over to him, she chided him gently as he drank deeply, "I told you to go and get that cough looked at when you went into town three days ago."

"It's…*cough, cough*… it's only the air outside, my love. Made a tickle in my throat, it's nothing. Now, Pietro, let me help you cut up that rabbit…" he brushed her off, and they continued their dinner.

"I was serious about that cough Angelo," whispered Valine that night as they readied themselves for bed in their room, "What if it's not a cough? What if it's the flu? We don't have the money for the doctor, my love; you need to take better care of yourself. Take the day to rest tomorrow, do not go hunting"-

"I can't afford a day off, Valine, not with winter so close. We need the money. And you've heard the stories about the raids that have been happening up north; if those bandits come here, we need to be ready with enough supplies to take with us if we leave-"

"It won't come to that, my love," she whispered, taking his face in her hands, "It won't, I will not let it happen, not to Pietro, not to you, not to me. I demand that you take the day off tomorrow, let me take care of you my dear…" she trailed off, kissing his face, pushing back his hair, kissing his neck up to his ear, and finally kissing his chin up to his lips.

"Valine…" he whispered, pushing his fingers up her nightdress, tracing patterns softly on her skin, and pulled her down on top of him on their bed. After a moment, he suddenly stopped, and she pulled back in response.

"What is it, Angelo?" she began to caress his face, tracing the laugh lines around his mouth, the beginnings of crow's feet around his eyes, but he gathered her roaming hand in his.

"Do you…" he trailed off, for a moment, a look of concern in his eyes, "Do you want to make a little brother, or a sister, for Pietro?" he asked gently.

The look in her eyes was all the answer he needed. Their lips flew back together as if magnetized, and they quietly made love until they fell asleep with exhaustion, while their first child slept in the other room...

"Mmmmmm…." Valine stirred, and blearily opened her eyes, wincing at the crack of light that came in through the dusty curtains. She sat up, the sheets falling around her waist exposing her bare skin. She glanced at the light coming through the window. Eight o'clock, she judged, by the height of the sun. "Morning my love," she rolled over to his exposed back, and gave him a kiss on the neck. He gave a low moan in response, "I'll go get up Pietro."

She stood, and tugged on her thin nightdress and stepped out into the cold house. She stepped over to her son's room, and crossing over to his bed, gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Ma...ma?" he rolled over, and stretched out his arms.

"Yes, my sweet boy, good morning. Can you get dressed for me dear?" She smiled with approval as he sleepily nodded and sat up, rubbing his eyes. In his innocence, he never saw his mother's tenderness in her eyes as she watched him. Setting out his clothes for the day, the same clothes as yesterday, she'll wash them tomorrow; she stood, went into the main room and put on a pot to boil for oats.

She went to her own room to get changed from her night dress. As she pulled on her dress and boots, she noticed her husband was still in bed, and smiling, she went over to his side of the bed. "Aaaangelo," she called softly, "time to wake," she kissed him on the cheek and stroked back the hair from his forehead- only to do it again. "Angelo? Angelo, you're burning up. Can you hear me?" Alarmed, she quickly pulled the blankets back from his chest as his eyes struggled to open, "Angelo, please!" her voice grew desperate as she noticed the sweat on his skin, the damp sheets. She knew that cough was not all that it seemed!

"Valine?" He was awake, thank God, rubbing his head, "What's wrong, love? Ooo, I feel dizzy…"

"You have a fever, that is what's wrong, Angelo! You are burning up! I knew it; I knew you were out of sorts yesterday. No, you stay there, stay!" She pushed him back onto the bed, as he made as if to rise from the bed, "I need to cool you down- water! Pietro! Pietro!" she called, sweeping from the room, "Sweetie, get those rags from the cupboard for me- no, those ones!" He heard her calling to their son, the slosh of water from the pump, "Thank you dear. Stay here, ok honey, I'll be right back to get you brekkie, ok sweetie? Mummy will be right back." He heard her stride before she swept back into the room, a bowl of icy cold ground spring water in one hand, a handful of damp rags in the other. She set down the bowl on the side table, and continued to gently lay out the damp rags on his body.

The day continued at that pace, caring for her ill husband, while also making sure her son ate a full meal at breakfast lunch and dinner. She made sure that he stayed out of the house for most of the day, sending him out to collect the berries from the cliff side, and to collect the traps around or near the house that his father had set to catch the stray rabbit or bird, of which Valine made into a filling soup for Angelo, though in the end, she could only force him to eat half of what she made for him.

That night, after she put Pietro to bed, she set herself down to keep vigil over her husband, making sure to trade warming rags for colder ones, and to soothe him in his fitful sleep. She found herself nodding off to sleep herself when suddenly, something woke her. She sat up, listening through candlelit room. Was it Pietro? It came again, three loud raps at the door. She, stood, gathered up the candle, pulled on her husband's soft leather hunting coat and stepped out into the main room, grabbing up her husband's hunting knife as she slowly went to the front door. The knock came again as she reached it, and she could see the glow of a lantern from the cracks. Setting down the candle, she gripped the hunting knife tightly, as she unlatched the door and swung it open.

It was a couple of watchmen from the town, a British immigrant; Paul Smithson, a good family friend, and the other, a German by the name of Gregor Eberstark, of whom she remembered distantly. She quickly hid the knife behind her back, "Paul! Gregor! What is it? Why have you come so late-"

"You and your family must gather up your things, Mrs. Amores," the urgency and desperation in Paul's voice almost scared her, "The bandits from the North; word has been sent from Monterey that they have been raided. They stole, and killed and raped several people, and children were not saved either; the bandits are headed this way. Quickly, you must take your family to safety!"

"Ah, yes! Wait, Paul, you must help me, its Angelo, he's sick, I can't carry him by myself to the beach. Our boat is there, please, help us!" The watchmen exchanged glances, and then Paul said, "Go warn the others Gregor, I will help her."

"Thank you," she sighed with relief as Gregor murmured to Paul, and then swept to one of the waiting horses. He had barely left, when Paul and Valine burst into Angelo's room. She strode to him quickly, and shook him urgently, "Angelo, Angelo, wake up! Hurry and dress, we must leave." She waited until Paul had helped him dazedly stumble into his trousers, boots and pants before going to her son's room. She woke him, and helped him dress quickly. Ordering him to wait in the main room, she hurriedly went to their single and most important possession in their home; a reasonably sized chest that held their life's savings, their families memorabilia, a single wedding still portrait; everything important to them.

"Paul?" She called, picking up her son in one hand, and the chest in the other, and she saw him coming out of her room, Angelo's arm over his shoulder. Angelo looked pale and was shaking, but his footing remained sure, with only a slight stumble here and there. They hurriedly went to the door as a group, and leaning down so that Pietro could pick up the lantern sitting outside the door, Valine went ahead of Paul and Angelo, lighting the way, pausing every so often so they could catch up.

They could hear the crash of the ocean before they could see it, lit brightly by the full moon. They half ran, half walked to the boat tied high up on the shore to avoid the tide, and carefully Paul eased Angelo into the boat, lying him down on the bottom, and taking the spare blanket he had brought with him from their room, she noticed, to ball up as a pillow under Angelo's head. She set Pietro into the boat, and then with Paul's help, the pushed the boat towards the waves. Suddenly, as they were drawing closer, she stopped.

"Paul…I have an idea…but we have to push them out to that little cove over there, they'll be hidden, and they won't go far out to sea," she pointed over to a clump off rocks some distance from where they were.

As soon as the boat was settled in the cove, rocked gently by the small waves, she waded to stand over the side where her son was staring up at her, eyes wide, sitting next to his father.

"Pietro, I need you to listen to Mummy now, ok? You have to be very strong right now, Mummy's going to go away for a little bit, but she will be ok, all right? Mummy loves you very much," she leaned forward and kissed him on the head, and wrapped him in her coat, no her husband's hunting coat.

Angelo was staring at her, "Where are you going?"

"I'll be back, I promise, I have an idea, Paul will help me-"

'I can come with you-"he started, but she shook her head.

"You can't, and you know it, you are not well enough. Whatever happens, just watch Pietro for me, ok? I love you…" She kissed him firmly on the mouth, and then stood to leave.

"We will have to work on getting you better after we go home, ok?"

He smiled at her, "I love you Valine."

She took one last look at him and her son, and then, turned to wade back through the tide with Paul.

"What's this idea?" Paul asked as they ran up the slope.

"Help me with the firewood, line it up around the house. I have some oil from a spare lantern inside." She ran inside to fetch it while she could hear him thumping wood along the outside of the house.

"Now, you need to go, thank you Paul. Go help Gregor with the townspeople," she started pushing him towards his horse, but he resisted.

"Wait a moment, what are you planning to do, Valine? Whatever it is, I can help-"

"Paul, you and Gregor are the leaders of the watchmen, he needs your help. I can handle this, I'll be perfectly safe, don't worry! Thank you Paul!" She ushered him to his horse, and stood by impatiently as he mounted.

"Be safe, ok Valine? That man and your boy are counting on you," he took off with a cry as Valine watched, her heart thumping in her chest. Quickly, she ran inside the cottage to light their biggest candle to insure it would not go out, and settled in the bushes, to wait.

She did not have to wait long. Presently, she heard the thundering of hooves, and several cries, as they slowed and neared the cottage, and through the leaves, she saw a group of about eight men on horseback carrying torches near the cottage and slow to a stop.

"Let's check this place out boys! There's always bound to be something valuable in these shitty shhhhh-*belch*- shacks," a slurred, drunken voice shouted out to the rest of them and with a "Hear hear!" they dismounted and advanced on the house. With a bang, the door was kicked in, and cries of, "There's no one here! I've found the cellar! Ooooo, lady garments!" were soon heard from the house. As quietly as she could, she stole round to the front of the house, and closed the only door before they could see her, and lit the firewood laid at her feet. She then rolled the biggest boulders she could find around her to bar the door, and anything else that she could find, making it near impossible for anyone to open the small door from the inside. All the while, her heart was racing, and she could not stop praying that the men inside would not hear her, or stop her before she could finish blocking the door.

Suddenly, as she was putting the last thing on the pile barring the door, and as the fire around the house kicked up into another gear, igniting the thatch roof, her hair was tugged sharply, and she found herself flying backwards.

One of the men had stayed outside as a watch and had been busy reliving himself, but upon coming back and finding his fellow bandits being trapped inside the home by a woman in a nightdress; well, to him, it was understandably a shock, and he immediately attacked her.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, you little bitch!" He cried, squatting down on top of her, and wrapping his hand around her neck with one hand, he reached around for a rock with his other hand, and struck her across the head with it once, twice, stunning her.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson you are not soon going to forget, you little slut. And when I get my friends outta there, they are gonna teach you the same lesson!" he slurred, the smell of spirits heavy on his breath. On 'lesson', he struck her once more with the rock, leaving her dazed, and leaned in close once more, "But I'm gonna teach you my lesson first, yes ma'am…" By the light of the fire, she could see his scraggly beard, his missing teeth, the remaining of which were blackened with tobacco, his worn down hat, the smell of moonshine whiskey on his breath; and as for her breath, she found could not breath, his hand was squeezing her neck so hard, and something warm and wet was dripping into her eyes, was that blood? She could feel his spare hand pulling up her night dress, his legs, forcing hers apart.

Desperately, she reached around for anything that could help her, and miraculously, her hand bumped against something- her husband's hunting knife, which she had stowed in her pocket before they left, and had fallen out due to the disturbances to her nightdress caused by the disgusting man now sitting on top of her. She grabbed it, and without thinking, managed to fling off the leather sheath before stabbing it into the man's heart. He stopped everything he was doing in complete surprise, looked down at the leather bound handle protruding out of his chest, gave a deep gurgle, and collapsed sideways off of her.

Valine gasped for breath as the hand around her neck finally released. But something was wrong, everything felt so distant, she couldn't see straight and her vision was blurry. Was it because of the warm liquid she could feel running down her forehead and face? She couldn't move her body, it seemed so heavy, but somehow, the scene around her had taken on a light aura, and she felt distinctly as if she were floating, though her body remained on the ground.

She could hear the men screaming in the house distantly, as if the cottage that was so close to her a moment ago was now very far away. With a great struggle, she turned her eyes to see her home engulfed in flames.

Valine gave a shuddering gasp, and a single tear fell down her cheek as memories of her husband building their home, their love, their nights together, becoming pregnant, her son being born, their friends they made in the nearby town of Carmel, all came rushing to her, and she cried as she knew she loved them all, and how she would miss her son, and her husband… but she was so happy they would all be safe now. If she could only see her son grow up, and watch over her husband as he raised him.

Her eyes then turned skyward, turned to the moon, what she knew was her last sight on Earth, and how bright and beautiful it was! So full, and pale, and she could swear that there was a face in the moon staring back at her, and she slowly ebbed out of consciousness.

Then it happened. A pulse that seemed to come only from the moon pushed into her, and filled her entire being with what she could only describe as pure white light, but it was warm, and she could feel its energy flowing into her, curing her wounds, energizing her body with a life that she felt more powerfully than she ever had in her life before. And she heard a whisper, so soft, so gentle, she could have cried for the love it had, and it said-

"You are my Lady Valentine, my Spirit of Love. Protect the Love in the world, my Lady Valentine, with as much sacrifice as you have given to die for it. You are my Spirit of Love. I will guide you…"

With those words whispered in her ears, her eyes flew open to see a new world.


	2. Chapter 2

**Please note- This chapter will not contain a lot of talking, and is more of a filler for the next chapter. Thanks for reading!**

Chapter 2- The Price of Love

Light slowly increased over the cliffs, but the sun's attempts to break through the thick layer of clouds and fog only cast a grim, grey pallor on the world. The marine air had a distinct chill, and there was a layer of dew on everything, from the tough shrubs growing on the sandy cliff side, to the smoldering ashes of the burnt cottage.

The crashing of the waves was the only sound; if it were not for the ocean breaking upon the shore, there would have been complete silence over the cliffs. Valine hadn't moved from where she lay, her chest rising and falling slowly as she slept. Then from far away, both in her dreams and from over the cliffs, a call was heard, and then another quickly followed it. She stirred; she knew those voices, she needed to call back to them. The voices came closer, and she finally opened her eyes, amazed that she was still on Earth. She attempted to pull herself to her feet, shaking off the effects of sleep, all the while hearing those familiar voices coming closer.

"Papa, wha happen-?" she heard Pietro cry out from around the corner of the burnt house.

"_Caro Signore_…" Angelo breathed in a low voice that still carried to her ears, "Stay here Pietro! I'll be back in a moment."

Valine stood up just as her husband ran around the corner, his wide eyes taking in the burnt house. He was wrapped heavily in a blanket, but when his head turned and spotted her, he stopped dead in his tracks, and his face paled.

"Angelo," she breathed with relief, and began towards him, a smile breaking out on her face as he slowly moved forward to her, "Angelo, my love, I am so glad you are all right!" As she hurried to embrace him, he stepped forward and walked _through_ her.

She stumbled forward, having expected that her weight would have been caught by Angelo. Shocked, she whirled around-

And saw him collapsing to his knees in front of her body, the blanket falling from his shoulders. She couldn't see how her nightdress had been torn and pulled up past her knees, her dirt smeared legs, or the cuts on her bare feet from the angle she was standing, but she could see her own bloodied face, and the body of the man she killed lying next to hers.

"Oh, dear God…" She really died last night, she realized now. As she slowly moved forward around her husbands' frozen frame, tears welled up in her eyes when she saw the despair taking over his, and her hands rose to cover her mouth as he, spotting his hunting knife in the dead man's chest next to his wife's body, yanked it out, spraying blood. He stared at it, as if confirming it was his own, and looking down at his dead wife, her mangled array and disfigured face, and the dead man next to her, Valine could see the events of last night clicking together in his head. When she saw that he had realized what she had done, hot angry sorrowful tears welled in his eyes. Stabbing the knife down into the earth beside him, he wailed to the heavens, "VALINE! Why, Valine? My love- my Valine, No!" Sobbing uncontrollably, he took his wife's body in his arms, and began to rock back and forth, clutching her to his chest.

She didn't realize that tears were falling fast from her own eyes until she heard a noise over to her left. Blinking, she turned her head to see her son, peeping around the corner of the blackened house at his grief-stricken father, his eyes wide.

"No, Pietro," she moved towards him, forgetting in an instant that she could not touch him, forgetting it was her own body that her husband was clutching, "Pietro, you mustn't be here, you mustn't see this!" She moved in desperation to her son, trying to protect him from the ghastly scene. But, yet again, her body moved through her son's as it had with her husband, and she stumbled, and fell past him to her knees.

Shaking now, she rose, and fully realized that she could do absolutely nothing to help her family now. The impact that her life's sacrifice made hit her then- she died, so they and their friends would be safe, so they all could live. But this, watching them suffer her loss, was also the price to pay.

Valine fell to her knees, hot tears falling down her cheeks. Never in her life had she felt so helpless, all she wanted to do was run to her family, tell them she was really alive, to reassure them, to fix their broken hearts, which she could feel as strongly as if they were her own-

She blinked in surprise. She really could _feel_ her husband's raw emotions. She knew they were his, because she could distinguish them from her own; the impressions of raw, aching pain of loss and a breaking heart were different from the helplessness she felt in herself. She could also feel her son's heart, his unconditional love for his father and mother, his bewilderment at his father and his feelings of non-understanding and confusion he was directing at his mother. Both emotions, she supposed, were probably because of the way she, no, her body, was appearing to him now. As a child, she was sure he was confused as to why she was looking so strange and still, and his non-understanding for why her father was acting so miserably to the way her body looked. There was something missing in this equation for the boy; an understanding of death.

She stared at them with enough amazement that her feelings of helplessness were momentarily forgotten, while their emotions came at her in waves and impressions that bombarded her mind. How could she feel them so strongly? Was this from being dead?

Valine then remembered the Moon, and how it had spoken to her, "You are my Lady Valentine, my Spirit of Love. Protect the Love in the world, my Lady Valentine, with as much sacrifice as you have given to die for it. You are my Spirit of Love. I will guide you…"

She was the Spirit of Love, then? Protect the Love… that was her purpose. "It explains why I'm still here on Earth." She thought to herself, her eyes filming over with concern again as she watched her husband grieve, and looked down at her bewildered son next to her. She automatically reached out to touch her son, to tell him she loved him…

Suddenly, as she reached out to him, a strange warmth traveled down her hand, and an opalescent light flowed from her palm, and before she could pull away in surprise, it landed on her son and absorbed into his body. She stared at him in horror, terrified she had done something awful to him, but his reaction was much simpler. As he continued to stare at his father, and his mother's body, the confusion that was keeping him frozen to his spot seemed to melt away in his small little body, and he began to cry.

Valine's eyes widened even further with surprise as a new emotional impression from her son flew into her body- she knew that he understood that she loved him, and somehow, by realizing that love, it clicked for him that his mother was gone. Perhaps it was the spontaneity of this realization that also helped the concept of death make sense for the child, but Valine immediately knew it was that strange light from her hand that caused this reaction.

She was so surprised, that she didn't realize that her husband had moved. She turned to see his blanket covering her body, which had been laid gently back down on the ground, her hands folded across her chest. He then turned to approach his son, his face heavy with sorrow.

She watched as he walked to her son, and stood over him, staring at him, and Pietro's cries quieted a little as he looked up at his father. Immediately impressions flew at her from both of them, and she realized she understood their relationship as if she was standing in the place of both Pietro and Angelo simultaneously- they loved each other, that she knew, but her son loved his father with feelings of admiration, happiness, and a little hint of fear, which she guessed was because of Pietro's uncertainty of his father at the moment, after seeing him so upset, and from when his father was an authority figure to him. During many of which times, Angelo would tower above him just like he was now, only now, he was completely silent, and Pietro was growing fearful of what Angelo intended to do.

Angelo, on the other hand, she could tell, loved their son unconditionally, but, surprisingly, his love for Pietro also had fear in it- fear that he would fail his son somehow in raising him, that he would not be able to protect and provide for him, that he would lose his son just as he had just lost his wife, and this fear was the strongest at the moment. Valine realized suddenly with a start, that it was his son's tears that had broken through his grief, but it was his fear right now that was holding him back from holding him.

It clicked for Valine then. Suddenly afraid that she wouldn't be able to do it again, she reached forward with her hand, and without words, tried to tell Angelo that she loved him…

The light flowed out of her palm, and just as with her son, absorbed itself into her husband. The effect was instantaneous, and she felt the change in his emotions immediately. Overwhelmed by the love that he realized his wife had for him, tears rushed down his face, and he gathered his son into a swooping embrace. They cried together for a long time, and Valine silently watched them, until the sound of horses was heard behind them. It was Paul and Gregor from the village, with a couple of other family friends she recognized. They all quickly dismounted their horses and hurried over to the father and his son.

Valine only half listened to what her husband explained to them all, describing what had happened to her and their home, and she half heard their cries of horror and grief at news of her death. She could feel their emotions for each other, the impressions rushing at her quickly, and leaving her feeling a little overwhelmed. She heard Paul giving orders to the others, and presently, Angelo picked up their family chest from the grass behind the house where she hadn't seen him drop it, attach it to a horses saddle back, set Pietro on the saddle, and swung up behind him. The group gathered Valine's body into a cart to drag behind the horses, and they set off to the town, leaving a few people to begin digging graves for the bodies of the dead bandits.

Their work took most of the day, even when people came back from the town to help them. They chopped down the rest of the house as well; making sure it was completely destroyed and cleared away before they left. The sun by then had burned away the morning fog, and was now beginning to make its descent behind the sea's horizon.

Valine did not go with them, nor had she followed her family to see their entrance to the town. They were taken in by another family that they were friends with, and given warm food and baths. Angelo was quickly put in bed to rest after discovering he still had the remains of his fever. The story of what happened, and Valine's sacrifice spread like wildfire through the town, but Valine heard and saw none of it.

Instead she stood at the cliffs edge, watching the sea as it rhythmically swayed back and forth, and if hypnotized, she stood there absolutely still, as the wind buffeted her in the nightdress that she didn't realize she was still wearing, and the world moved around her.

She knew she had a choice. No, actually, she realized, she did not have a choice. There was no more life for her here; she had given it up for her family. To stay would be to torture herself, and it would hold her back from moving forward. She saw her path that led into the horizon, but she could see nothing of what lay in store for her.

But it was the only path that she could go on. There was a purpose for her, and Love to protect.

There was only one way to go now, and as she fixed her eyes on the horizon the sun was now setting behind, drawing a brilliant sunset on the sky, she said one word-

"Forward." And she disappeared from the cliff.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Discovery

It was like she had taken an enormous step. One moment she was staring into the horizon, the next, hovering over black water.

Valine had no time to scream before she plummeted to the ocean below her feet. With an enormous splash, she landed, feet first, and sank through the waves like a stone. The cold was unbearable. She couldn't think of anything but the frigid water and she struggled and kicked to go up to the surface; she needed air, she needed to get out of the water, to go UP!

It happened again, the strange movement, but this time she appeared miles straight up in the sky, floating above the clouds. She opened her eyes, took one look around her, and screamed as she began to fall through the air. Valine turned over and over as she flailed her arms desperately, her scream stretching out behind her-

And with a thud, she landed on her back on something hard and hollow. The landing had knocked the air out of her, and while she lay there on what seemed like a hard wood floor, gasping for breath, she heard a commotion somewhere over to her left, and suddenly, whatever she had landed on jolted, and a loud voice cried out. A face appeared over the wall to her left, and at first, all she saw were huge bright blue eyes, an enormous black fur hat, and a white beard before a voice boomed at her, "Vat is this! Who are you! Did you fall? How did you fall? Why are you wet? You are wearing nightdress- why?!"

The questions came at her fast, and stunned by the sudden moving and the falling, she could only stare at the enormous man from where she lay, dumbfounded, "I... I..." she tried to speak.  
"It's no matter!" The voice boomed again, cutting her off, and the face disappeared for a moment. She sat up, coughing and shivering, as a mass of dark fur suddenly landed on her head.

"Wrap yourself up in that! We go to North Pole, we go and talk there!" the thick Russian voice bellowed out from the front of the... what was this thing? A huge…sleigh? She wrapped the furs tightly around herself, trying to ignore her wet and clinging nightdress, and rub the heat into her bones.

She stood, and her mouth dropped open yet again when she saw that they were floating high in the air, with four enormous reindeer tugging the sleigh through the air. The man stood, and she stumbled back to see he was even larger than what she originally thought- he towered over her, making the large sleigh look a little smaller. He pulled what looked like a large glass orb from the pocket in his black fur lined red jacket, and threw it in far in front of the sleigh. The orb burst, and what seemed like a window opened up in the air in front of them. There was a snowy landscape through it, and what looked like a large stone ice palace was seen far off in the distance through the window.

Before she could show more of a reaction other than amazement, the sleigh moved forward through the window-and emerged through the other side, the icy wind immediately cutting through her furs. She pulled them tighter to herself as they neared the palace. The man yelled to the reindeer, and they swooped down below the huge palace into an ice cavern, and slowed to a stop.

She yelped in surprise as a large furry man-creature yanked her off the sleigh. Dangling her off the ground by the back of her nightdress, the creature mumbled to the man.  
"She's fine, she's fine! Take her, wash her up, get her clothes, and then bring her to my office. See you in a moment!" The man turned and cheerily began walking off down a hallway, yelling orders spontaneously as he went. More of the furry creatures came bumbling into the room, and hearing the tinkle of bells below her on the floor, she looked down to see tiny elves scurrying around, tripping up the creatures, repairing little scratches on the sleigh, and other than that, generally being a nuisance.

Valine could only take in the scene for a moment before she was swept away down a hallway, carried up uncountable floors by an elevator system, and hustled into a large bedroom, where more furry creatures with sleek fur and bows, evidently female, mumbled to the ones who had carried her into the room. They took her, against her protests, barked something at a couple of elves who ran up to her with measuring tape that was jammed into her armpits and wrapped around her waist. A couple of the female creatures then swept away to some sowing machines in the corner, where a furious whirring and buzzing immediately ensued. She didn't see much more before she was swept into a bathroom made entirely of white tile. Her nightdress was suddenly tugged off, and she was dumped into a large warm bath.

The creatures began bustling around her, lifting her arms, scrubbing her back, washing her hair with various soaps and lotions, and dunking her under the water unceremoniously several times, before tugging her out of the bath, and wrapping her in soft, fluffy towels, making her feel like a dog. Still wrapped in a towel, she was rushed back into the other room, where the whirring in the corner suddenly stopped, and clothes, magically sown together, was presented to the furry creatures that immediately began to dress her, still ignoring her cries of protest.

Soft black pants were pulled over her legs and were buttoned to fit at her waist, followed by brown leather boots that came up to just below her knees. A corset was tugged over her head, and tightly pulled together at her back, cutting her oxygen supply in half. A white blouse was pulled over that, with lace frills at the sleeves and her collar, as well as running down the middle of her shirt, and was tucked into her pants. A black tailored and fitted cropped jacket whose base came to just above her belly button was tugged on over her shirt, and the frilly collars burst out of the jackets front and out of her sleeves. It was a masculine outfit, she realized, looking down in surprise, and she immediately felt awkward with the pants on her legs, instead of a skirt. Her hair was pulled back in a bun, and finally, she was tugged back out the door by the two male furry creatures while the rest in the room waved goodbye as she was whisked away.

Valine was soon hustled into a large room that had bookshelves on either side stretching the length of the room. Whirring toys and an electric train whistled through the room. At the far end of the room, behind the enormous, dark wood, cluttered desk was a tall window that revealed the icy white land outside. The two male creatures finally pushed her down into a plushy armchair that was facing the desk before mumbling something to her, and exiting the room, leaving her alone with her befuddlement.

Valine stared around the room with wide eyes, watching the toys as they moved magically by themselves. She didn't have much time to assert her bearings when with a bang, the door swung open, and she jumped out of her seat.

The man strode into the room, laughing, "Do you know how amazing it was that you landed in my sleigh when you did? Why, if I had thrown my snow globe a moment sooner, you would have fallen to your death! Ha, ha, ha, imagine that! You are a very lucky girl! Ach, look at you, you look wonderful, but, aren't those men clothes? Why are you wearing them? Ach! Those buffoons, do they not know lady when they see lady? Ach, it's no matter, no matter," he waved his hand, also waving off any comment that Valine could have made, even if she had tried to, and gently pushed her to the chair she had risen from, "Sit, sit girl, I want to talk to you, I want to know what kind of Spirit you are!"  
At that she burst out, "How did you know that?"

"That you are Spirit? Because I am Spirit too, silly girl, only I am not just Spirit, I am Guardian! Why you ask silly questions? How else do you think I can see you?" he sat down in the large chair behind the desk, "Unless," he suddenly placed his hands flat upon the table, and leaned forward to peer at her, "Unless you are a new Spirit?"

She nodded, a little too taken aback by the man to speak.  
He burst out laughing with delight, "That is wonderful news! Marvelous! That is fantastic news, I will call the others, they can all meet you"-  
"Wait, please!" She cried out, unable to hold herself in any longer, "Who are you?"

He stared at her for a moment, and yet again, burst out laughing, "Where are my manners? I am forgetting myself, I am sorry, I get carried away at times, you must understand, things like this don't happen much often. I am Nicholas St. North, Santa Claus."

"Ah, I see," It made sense, with everything she had seen in the palace, and the sleigh, "I'm sorry, you said something about being a Spirit too?" she was starting to feel a little dizzy; this North person was too energetic, and far too oblivious for her.

"No, I am Guardian, I, along with the other Guardians; protect the children of the world. We remind them about all the good things, like hope, wonder, and happiness. You can become Guardian too, like me; I was Spirit, now I am Guardian! Oh, vat is your name, and your title my dear, vat do we call you?" he stared at her expectantly.

She hesitated, "I guess, my title would be Lady Valentine, and my name is Valine-"

She was cut off yet again as North gasped in delight, "Oh how wonderful! So, love, that is your calling… How did the Man in the Moon choose you, Valine?"

At that question though, something in her froze. It was too soon, everything from just the day before was so raw, like a fresh, gaping wound in her heart. Her face hardened, and she abruptly stood.

"I must thank you for your hospitality, Mr. North, and for the clothes, and the, erm, bath," she blushed, recalling the memory, "but, I have treaded upon your hospitality too much. I should go"-

"Nonsense! You must stay, stay as long as you'd like!" He stood up with her, beaming, and desperately, she tried again, "No, you don't understand, I can't"-

"Yaloo! Tashi!" He shouted, and two of the furry man-creatures burst through the door, "Set her up in a room, make sure she has anything that she needs"-

But Valine could not take any more, and she finally snapped, "No! I can't be here right now, this is too much! I have to go!"

Stunned by her reaction, they stared at her as she abruptly turned and headed towards the door. The creatures were staring at her with wide eyes, and they immediately divided to let her through the door, only to block her way again as North spoke, "Wait, wait, Valine, we can help you!"

"Your help is not what I need! Let me pass!" She snapped at the creatures, but, they merely mumbled uncomfortably to each other, glancing from her and North anxiously.

She turned to face him, and he stared at her concerned, "Valine, becoming a Spirit is a difficult change, I know. Let us help you start out in this world. Besides, where will you go?" he spoke gently, and she could feel his genuine concern for her from a sudden wave of emotion from him. But she shook her head and remained firm. Every bone in her body was telling her to leave, that this change was something she had to do herself. He was right though, where could she go? Her home was clearly off limits. Her memories suddenly had the answer, as she remembered her childhood home in Cambridgeshire, England.

"I'm going to go to England, to my family home in Cambridge," she said visualizing the large brick house, the English country garden, "Maybe a return to the start is what I need"-

And she vanished yet again, making the furry creatures cry out in surprise, but North merely raised his eyebrows. The creatures turned to him, mumbling excitedly with fear, pointing to the spot where she had stood just a moment sooner, "Ja, ja, she's gone! I have a feeling she'll be fine, she seemed strong. Ach!" he suddenly exclaimed, slapping his forehead, "You stupid Yeti's, she was lady! Why you give men clothes to lady, stupid's?" Laughing he stepped through the room, "Don't worry, she'll be around. We are immortal, after all…"

The moon was high in the sky over the city of Cambridge. There were no lights on in the many brick and stone buildings, only the lanterns that lined the cobblestoned streets. A single officer paced slowly up the street, walking his beat, whistling softly through the clear night. Kings and Queens College were both silent, their grand stone architecture looming in the night, facing the River Cambridge, which flowed through the city. Along the river, a little farther from the colleges, a punting boat was moored to a private dock, which had a worn down sign swinging from it, "Sinclair," was the name written on it.

It was here where Valine reappeared, standing on the end of the dock. She stumbled a little, thankfully, not backwards to fall into the river. She whirled around, soaking in where she was; "I'm…"she blinked hard to convince herself it was real, "I'm home! But, how? I was…" She broke off, and then her eyes widened, "I just concentrated on where I needed to go. So, that's how I…" her train of thought trailed away, as she turned her head to the shadow of the darkened house amongst the trees, colored dimly by the moonlight. She took a step forward, but stopped, and as if to test her realized abilities, shut her eyes, and concentrated on the memory of her family home's main room- the tiled floor, the rich wooden furniture, the plush chairs, the books on the shelves, the roaring fireplace that bathed the room in a cozy glow-

And opened her eyes to find herself standing in the very room she had pictured, only, the fire in the fireplace was out, the furniture all covered in white sheets to protect from dust and fading from the sun that came in through the tall windows.

"Where is everyone?" She wondered aloud. It had been ages since she had had contact with her father and mother. Unfortunately, when it was discovered that she was in a relationship with the Italian baker's boy down the street, her wealthy parents cut her off, they embarked on a life together floating across the Atlantic to the Americas. She hadn't heard from them since, and as she walked through the empty, shut up house, she distantly and sorrowfully wondered if they had died. Ironically, as soon as she had that thought, she noticed a glow coming from under a door to a smaller parlor room.

Visualizing the room inside, she quickly appeared in it. Her mother, now much aged and older than she remembered, was dozing in a rocking chair by the fire. Valine stared at her sleeping frame for a long moment, slowly feeling the impressions that came to her from her mother little by little. Her mother loved her, like a mother should, but no more, no less. All further love that could have come from this, developing it into a lifelong loving relationship, was stopped when, by what her mother considered as a betrayal to her principals, her only daughter was spotted kissing that boy, an Italian, no less. Valine had been out of favor with her since, and her mother, seeing herself as righteously justified, had not regretted it since.

Surprisingly, Valine did not feel sorrowful, knowing her suspicions about the way her mother felt about her were confirmed. She had long accepted their separation, emotionally, and physically, as the death of their relationship. She broke away from her stare, looked around the room, and seeing nothing of more interest, imagined herself upstairs, and there, she appeared.

She spent the next several hours wandering the empty house, letting the childhood memories flow. There, under that chair was where she had etched her initials using a carving knife. And there, was where she would sit reading as her father debated politics she didn't understand with work colleagues. A letter had reached her and her husband a few years back after her son was born, sent from their family lawyer, that he had suffered a heart attack and died. Her father was a harsh man, and had suffered her many a caning when she would childishly failed at a task. "He never realized it only inspired my rebellious nature," She thought, derisively.

So, what was she looking for here, she wondered, as the sun broke through the window. She had spontaneously thought visiting the old family homestead would inspire her next step, however, it only brought up bad memories, and she stared around her with a frown. Maybe staying with Mr. North was the better idea?

Suddenly, she turned her head, feeling as though she was being called. Before she could control herself, her body responded, and vanished-

To reappear in the shabby, run-down backyard of a brick home in the middle of the city. The outside walls of the brick house were dirty, and not well maintained, especially in comparison to the clean homes to its right and left. Just as she began wondering what was drawing her near, the sound of a child crying, and two loud voices yelling came to her ears from inside the home.

Wondering what she would find, she imagined herself inside the house, behind the front door, finding herself in a sitting room just as shabby as the homes' front yard. There was dirt on everything, from the chairs, to the fireplace, to the table in the middle of the room. Before she could study anything further, the yelling and crying became louder, and a plump woman in a dress bouncing a screaming baby over her shoulder burst in the room, with a tall, skinny, and dirty man following behind her.

Momentarily, Valine yet again forgot that she could not be seen, and started to apologize for breaking into their home, when the man began to shout at the woman.

"Why do you think I am gone, every single day, cleaning bloody chimney's, if not for you, if not for this damned house, those children in your arms and upstairs? I work every day for you and this family, and you think that I'm sneaking around behind your back"-

"I don't think you are, Gregory, I know you are!" the woman whirled on him, "Elsie saw you down the street chasing that… that harlot, around the other night, before you conveniently did not come home, flapping your gums and smiling, and flirting like a love struck fool!"

"My dear woman, you would listen to Elsie?" the man laughed with disbelief, "You know that woman spreads rumors and gossip as much as a horse shits!"

As they continued to shout and scream, all that Valine could feel from the woman was fear that she was losing her husband, her love, her stream of financial and emotional support, and from the man, desperation that she would not believe him, because he was being honest, for the most part, Gregory had not slept with the woman, but Elsie had seen him flirting with her, as she had said. But Valine understood why he had done that, escaped for the amusement of another woman- they had grown distant from each other, he and Elsie, she with the children, he with his job sweeping chimneys.

Valine suddenly understood why she was there; to help them remember that they loved each other. Was it the danger of their love breaking that had called her here, she wondered, as she raised her hands to both the screaming woman, and the anguished man, and the white light flowed out of her hands, and absorbed into them both.

Elsie immediately began sobbing, and collapsed into one of the dirty chairs. As for Gregory, he fell to his knees before her, "My love, I am so sorry; I don't know what I can do to convince you that I have remained faithful to you. Yes, I was with that woman, but it went no farther than flirtation. I was stupid, I felt so far away from you, you have been so busy with Charlotte, and the boys, and I haven't been with you, in so long. I was looking for you, when I was flirting with her, Elsie, please believe me, I'm so sorry…" Valine watched as they began kissing, slowly, and then frantically, needing each other. They only stopped as the baby Charlotte began to cry again, and they laughed at the interruption.

Smiling, Valine left the couple, transporting herself to the street outside, pleased. If only she had the powers to grant them money for their home and family, she thought, but at least they are happy again. She looked up at the moon, grateful for its bright glow, and began to walk along the cobblestone pavement.

She got called after that, throughout the day several times, to several different families whose love was at risk, and though the conflict was different, each time there was an underlining of fear that she began to find interesting; all the couple she encountered were afraid of losing each other, and she was erasing that fear with love. It caused a happiness in her, that was at first small, and then grew large in her heart, and she was happy that she was able to help so many people.

Valine next found herself on the outskirts of Cambridge, as the sun went down, and the moon came out, in the small town of Fulbourn, outside a small, darkened cottage. She frowned, this was a little odd. There was no screaming here, no crying, no sound coming from the house that she could hear of. Yet, something was calling her here.

She transported herself inside. There was a small fire burning itself out in the dusty grate. Modest wooden chairs were interspersed throughout the tiny front room, facing the fire. A stove was glowing in the kitchen, a table, with a bowl of fruit, wooden floors throughout the house. She vanished into the master bedroom, there, a husband and wife lay sleeping, their love for each other reaching out to Valine in gentle waves. Nothing wrong here; where was the source of this call?

She reappeared in the smaller bedroom, ah, here was the source. It came from a small, brown haired boy, who was writhing under the covers. In alarm, she rushed to his side- but he was only asleep, having a nightmare. She felt the emotions coming from him in his sleep; the dream was about his parents not loving him anymore. Without waking him, she held her palm to his cheek, letting love absorb into him, until his nightmare soothed itself away.

"Well, that is something I certainly have never seen before." A sinister voice suddenly spoke out to her through the dark, making her jump, and look around.

Two golden eyes loomed out at her through the dark, and then, she found herself falling through shadow.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- Finding Fear

Valine didn't know how long she fell, but it felt like ages, falling through darkness and not being able to see the bottom while also not being able to know where she would land, or how. The end of the fall came with such an abrupt end, however, that even though every fiber of her being was expecting it, it still shocked her as to how much it knocked the wind out of her. She was left, rolling on the cold floor, in pitch black darkness, gasping for air for the second time in the span of twenty four hours.

Finally, she regained her breath, and sat up, coughing, squinting to force her eyes to adjust to the minimal light. She felt the floor around her; cold stone, but with a slightly roughened texture- sandstone, perhaps? Standing, she peered around her. She was standing in a small cave, with a low roof that she almost hit her head upon. Feeling around her, her hands hit a wall, and then another wall to her right. A spark of fear quickened her heartbeat- was she trapped?

Her eyes adjusted fully then, and looking around, she spotted a side of the cave with a slightly lighter darkness than the rest, and moving to it, she realized it was a tunnel. Relieved, she hurried through it, keeping a hand on the wall to guide herself. Suddenly, when she had moved a few feet or so forward, a low, dark chuckle was heard behind her, making Valine jump, and her head spun to look behind her, but seeing nothing through the darkness, she immediately quickened her pace, almost breaking into a run as she finally burst out of the tunnel into an enormous cavern.

It was lighter here, and through the gloom, she felt like she was looking at the remains of a city of stone, long since buried beneath the earth. There were stars that led to nowhere interspersed far throughout the cavern, collapsed walkways gave the area an eerie feel with their slanted shapes; below them, the arches that held them up tried unsuccessfully to give a further view of what was beyond the cavern through the gloom. Stalagmites and stalactites pointed sharply at each other from the floors and the ceilings. What put Valine most on edge where the vicious cages that were hanging, embedded into the ceiling by long poles. They were circular, and had sharp edges in their detailing, and some were large enough for a human, others, small enough for a cat.

Heart thumping, she made her way through the cavern, stepping over boulders, and climbing over stairs, looking all around her for the source of the laughter. As she reached what seemed to be the center of the immense cave, she noticed a walkway that actually led somewhere; a circular, grey marble building that stood up from a base laid farther down in the earth that seemed to be the only structure left standing in the underground lair. There were stairs circling the outer perimeter of it, leading down into darkness.

Valine suddenly heard the dark laughing again, and whirling around, she braced herself against a wall as the voice spoke, "Ha, ha, ha, how interesting, how very, very, interesting. You are afraid of the unknown. You fear what I could be, what I could do to you... Shall we make your fears come true? Ha, ha, ha, ha..." the voice trailed away sinisterly.

"R-reveal yourself!" Valine burst out, stepping forward, "Do not mock me from the shadows!"

"Hmmmm... a brave try, but I don't think so….It's been some time since I've felt a fear so…"

Valine turned again, but when she did so, the voice whispered directly into her ear, "…_thrilling._"

Gasping in shock, she suddenly found herself falling, yet again through darkness, but the fall was quick, and she landed hard on her side on a slope. Rolling, she crashed into something hard that broke her tumble. Dazed, she glanced up, and found herself at the base of a large globe made of metal. It had hundreds of glowing dots all over it, becoming the only thing that emitted light in the underground lair.

She pulled herself shakily to her feet, feeling sick. It appeared that she was at the bottom of the cavern, next to the bottom of the building that she had seen from the walkway.

Suddenly the laughter started again, and then, there was nothing but darkness, though this time, she wasn't falling. She started hearing things through the dark, inhuman growls and moans, and once or twice, something brushed by her. Valine tried to feel her way to anything, but finally, after something flew by her once more she broke out with a desperate cry, "Let me out!"

At once, the powers inside her responded, and a glow that began in her heart slowly stretched out along her body, lighting her up with an opalescent glow, that then pushed outwards outside her body, slowly at first, but gradually picking up speed as it rushed through the cavern, lighting it up with an intense glow that shimmered brilliantly. It faded after a moment, returning back into her the same way as it had left.

When it disappeared into her, she stumbled, and sat heavily on a step behind her with sudden fatigue, deciding not to care any more about the things that were happening to her. She dropped her forehead in her hands just as a voice behind her spoke.

"Well, that was an overreaction."

Whirling around, she saw a man stepping out from behind the circular building, a tall, lean man dressed in a long black cloak, with slicked back coal black hair that intensified his angled face. His skin was pale, contrasting his black clothes. His appearance was sinister, however, his eyes were the most mysterious part about him; sometimes golden, sometimes silver in different lighting, they held one's gaze with a piercing understanding, as if they could see through to the darkest corners of your heart.

"…an overreaction? You were deliberately terrifying!" She jumped to her feet, ready to fight, but the man merely smiled, "It was an overreaction, because your fear of me was irrational and only temporary. You feared the unknown, not knowing what I was, or what I would do to you. Other than that," he cocked his head at her, studying her, "you seem to be a little afraid of everything, including yourself, but this too, seems to be irrational and temporary," a sly smile hovered on his lips.

A wave of emotions suddenly hit her. How did he know exactly what she feared? She had been holding all the emotions she couldn't yet handle for the past few days inside her heart, and it had been steadily building up; from losing her family, to feeling so out of control with powers in her new life she couldn't control, to being able to feel the intense impressions of how people felt for each other, to that North guy and his oblivious nature- it was too much, she felt like water boiling up under a closed lid, and this dark man, who she didn't even know, had turned up the heat, and everything boiled over.

But she had an escape, she suddenly realized, before she could break down in front of this dark stranger, 'Why didn't I realize I could leave sooner? I really was too caught up with irrational fear…,' she could kick herself with her idiocy, and as she frantically thought up the first place she could go- North's office popped into her head- and she vanished before the man could say another word.

A moment passed in stunned surprise as the man stared at the spot where Valine had stood a moment earlier, and then it passed, and a chuckle escaped his gleaming grin. "A new face. How very interesting," he snapped his fingers, and a dark shadow horse appeared at his side, "Track her down. Let us see if she can be useful or not…" and the horse fled the cavern, leaving the man's calculating smile in its wake.

"… and this girl, she is the Spirit of Love!" North was bellowing excitedly at a few people in the main room of his palace, where his enormous globe of the world was the centerpiece. A hummingbird fairy fluttered in front of North, looking just as excited as he was, while a six foot bunny with boomerangs strapped to his back leaned against a post, looking only moderately interested. A small man, the size of a child, with golden shimmering robes and hair circled around the group on a golden cloud, looking thoughtful. The bunny stepped forward, "So, where did she go, then? Why isn't she here?"

At that, North suddenly looked crestfallen, "Ah… well, she disappeared."

"So ya called us here t' _tell_ us about a new Spirit? Crickey North, you may have well just told us to go and look for her ourselves!" The bunny through up his paws angrily.

"Bunnymund!" The fairy began, "North was only trying to express what an exciting time this is. It's been a while since we had a new face," the girl smiled at them all, "and it's a girl! Finally, someone to girl chat with!" She wriggled in the air with joy.

"Exactly Tooth, way to be optimist," North turned to the floating man, "What do you think Sandy? It's good, ja?"

The Sandman nodded, and a picture of a hand giving a thumbs up appeared above his head.

"Then, is settled! I will send Yeti's to bring Valine!" North cried with enthusiasm.

"Wait a momen', when did we decide that?" Bunny exclaimed, "The girl's most likely on the other side of the planet by now, and by the way you describe she left, she's probably tough to track"-

The bursting open of the doors behind him cut Bunny off, and a Yeti came bumbling into the room, excitedly gesturing and making loud noises.

North's eyes widened, "Valine is here?"

That made them all take notice, "Where is she?" exclaimed Toothiana in excitement, but North was listening to the Yeti with a serious look on his face. "Ah. I see," he turned to the others, "She appeared in my office, Yaloo found her…" he trailed off, "but, she was well…"

They others glanced at each other, "She was… what, North?" Tooth asked anxiously.

"It was hard for Yaloo to describe, but she was... ah, what is word, downcast? As if her heart was heavy, Yaloo said. Yeti's didn't know what to do, so they put her in spare bedroom. She's resting now."

They stared at each other in surprise. "I wonder what happened to her…" North said thoughtfully.

…..To be continued.


End file.
